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On Thursday, May 18, legislation that would have created a taxpayer-funded anti-gun think tank at Rutgers University blew up on the launchpad amidst opposition from gun owners, legislators, and Rutgers itself!

S2830 was slammed at a hearing of the New Jersey Senate Higher Education Committee. Senators Tom Kean, Jr. (R21) and Ronald Singer (R30) railed on the bill's selective focus on "gun violence" to the exclusion of other forms of violence, as well as the potential costs. The bill was held from further consideration and no vote was taken after the Committee heard testimony from Rutgers University representatives who said that the legislature should not be telling the University what to research.

The legislation, sponsored by Senator Fred "one-gun-a-month" Madden (D4), was a transparent attempt to create an anti-gun think tank cloaked in the legitimacy of academia. It also would have co-opted several state agencies to be at the beck and call of the think-tank to answer data requests, including the Motor Vehicle Commission, the Department of Health, the State Police, and the Department of Law and Public Safety.

Thank you for your efforts to defeat this legislation. Yesterday's outcome is yet another example of how gun-owner involvement in the legislative process makes a difference in the Garden State.